Violin.



J. R. SPBER.

VIOLIN.

APPLICATION FILED APRJS, 1913. 1 1 10,654 P n ed Sept. 15, 1914.

fTTT g 5 22 I a d THE AORRIS PETERS C0,. PHoTo-LlTHa, WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. SPEER, (31 PATERSON, I'IJ'E'W JERSEY.

VIOLIN.

To all whom may concern Be it known that I, JOHN It. Srrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at 163 Franklin street, in the city of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Violins, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in the violin and consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts, as shown in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification and as hereinafter described and claimed.

In my improved violin I employ auxiliary sympathetic strings, but I have endeavored to avoid the objections and difliculties that have heretofore prevented their successful use.

Metallic sympathetic strings have been preferred by me to the ordinary gut strings, and have been arranged in a novel manner in combination with supplemental soundboards, bridges and sound-posts in the interior of the violin body, as shown in the drawing.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts in the several views.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of the interior of a violin body, showing the supplemental or sympathetic strings, soundboards, bridges, the novel arrangement thereof, and the means for tuning s strings,.which are metal strings, preferably steel; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the center of Fig. 1, showing the position and relation of the supplemental parts. Fig. 3 is a view of a violin showing the belly and the ordinary arrangement of the outside strings. Fig. 4 is a detail plan of a tail piece used herewith.

The back -a-, ends and sides Z2, and neck o are common to all violins. Inside of said body I insert the blocks (Z and h, the sounding-boards e and i, and a sound-post and a support s under the sounding-board 5 bridges 7 and 7c mounted upon said supplemental sound-boards e and ?Z respectively; metal strings 'n are passed through the arch-shaped metal plate g and are knotted on the other side thereof, said knots being located in a slot in the block -d-. The wire strings are then passed over the bridge --f-- and over the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 18, 1913.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914. Serial No. 761,939.

bridge 7c to screws -mwhich pass through the block -/i, end of the violin b-, metal plate Z, and thumb nuts 0. The screws -m-, and nuts --0- cooperate together with the metal plate Z and are manipulated to regulate the tension and tuning of the strings a, two of which are tuned an octave lower than the others. The usual cover or belly of violin is secured to the walls b of the violin, and on top of the violin are secured the outside strings, which I prefer also to be metal strings. The tail-piece, to which the outer or outside strings are secured upon the violin, may be of any suitable material, but is preferably constructed also of German sil-' ver. This construction, arrangement and combination of parts in the interior of the violin, together ith the ordinary outside construction, well-known in violins, has been found in practice to obviate the practical diflieulties heretofore experienced in musical instruments employing auxiliary or sympathetic strings.

Heretofore it has been found impracticable to tune the inside supplemental or auxiliary strings, so that they would vibrate in sympathy with the corresponding strings on the outside. Owing to my arrangement of the supplemental strings and sound elements contained in the resonant body of my violin, I produce harmonic effects when playing on one or more strings, because I can from the outside tune the inside strings so that they will vibrate in sympathy with the strings on the outside.

The use of a mute on the bridge of a violin embodying the construction of my invention, gives to thetone of the violin a richness and sweetness hitherto unheard, all owing to the said novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts, shown in the accompanying drawings and described in this specification.

As shown in the drawings the blocks cZ and 7z and the sounding-boards e and i occupy but a small part of the interior space at their respective ends of the violin body, and upon the same horizontal plane, leaving the whole central portion of the interior space unoccupied beneath that portion of the belly which supports the outside bridge that carries the outside strings, save by the ordinary sound-post P and the inside auxiliary strings which pass through said space from the arch-shaped metal plate gover the sound-board e and bridge fto the bridge /l: over the sound-board vlto the outside tuning devices. A violin constructed as herein described and shown in the accompanying drawings will be heard in a large orchestra where various musical instruments are being played.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings, which is a side view of a portion of the violin, the fingerboard and the strings 4t, bridge B, and tail-piece T and the usual sound-post P are shown, the sound-post P being shown in dotted lines in the interior of the violin. In said figure the interior parts are indicated by dotted lines, and the supplemental strings n are adjusted by the manipulation of the nuts 0 on the screws -mlocated outside the rear portion of the violin, as shown.

With this description of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

1. A violin comprising a body provided with the usual accessories, in combination with spaced sound boards supported at each end of the body within said body and lying in the same plane, a string bridge on each of said sound boards, and auxiliary strings passing over said bridges and connected to the body.

2. A violin including in combination, four supplemental sympathetic strings arranged in the interior of the body and means operated from without the body to tune the auxiliary strings to sympathize with the usual outside strings, in combination with two short sound-boards arranged within the body of the violin, one at each end and supplemental bridges, one located upon each of said sound-boards, over which said auxiliary strings are stretched, the central portion of the space in the violin being unoccupied, save by the usual sound-post and the auxiliary sympathetic strings which pass through said space, all substantially as shown and described.

3. A violin including in combination two supplemental sound-boards, supports for the same, two supplemental bridges and four auxiliary sympathetic strings passing over said bridges and sound-boards; an archshaped metal plate with openings therein through which one end of each of said strings is passed and knotted; an adjusting bar secured to the other end of each of said strings and passing to the exterior of the body, all arranged in the interior of the violin, the central portion of the space within the violin being unoccupied save by the usual sound-post and the auxiliary sympathetic strings which pass through said space,

and an independen means outside of the body for moving each bar, all arranged substantially as shown and described.

4. A violin including in combination, with the hollow body and the outside strings extending over the top thereof, a bridge and the other usual outside accessories, of four auxiliary strings arranged within the said body, the inside strings G and D to be tuned to harmonize with the strings G and D on the outside and the inside strings A and E to be tuned an octave lower than the outside strings A and E; two short sound-boards arranged in the same horizontal plane, one at each end of the interior of the body, a bridge mounted on each of said soundboards, a support under each of said soundboards, one end of each auxiliary string suitably secured at one end of the interior of the body, the strings passing over said bridges and sound-board longitudinally through the central portion of the hollow body of the violin, screw-bars m to which the other ends of the auxiliary strings are secured, the block h and the metal plate Z- through which said screws pass to the exterior of the body and thumb nuts mounted on said screws on the outside of the body, all constructed and arranged substantially as shown and described.

5. In a violin, the combination, with the hollow body and the outside strings, of auxiliary strings arranged within the said body, two short sound-boards -e and -i arranged within the said body at the end thereof, supports s for the same, bridges -f and 7t mounted on each of said short sound-boards, reinforcing blocks dand h, an arch-shaped metal plate g provided with openings through which the ends of the said auxiliary strings are passed and knotted, slots in the block (l adapted to receive said knotted ends, said auxiliary strings passing longitudinally over the bridge 'f and over the bridge lc-,

screw-bars -777rto which the other ends of the auxiliary strings are secured, openings through the block hto permit the screwbars m to pass outside of the violin a metal plate provided with openings for the passage of said screw-bars and thumb-nuts -0-, adapted to cooperate with the metal plate Z and screw-bars m-. substantially as shown and described and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. SPEER.

Vitnesses \VILLIAM BRUCE MrroHELL, ROBERT Scor'r. 

